The other day, someone on The Courier team (we won't mention any names) touted the fact they had almost finished their Christmas shopping as they strolled down our main hall.

For those of us who haven't even begun Christmas shopping, the comment unleashed that increased holiday heartbeat of stress and anxiety to get it all done in time. The holidays come with a certain level of stress; however, if all you have to worry about is deciding what gifts to buy for the people on your list, then you've got it made.

For those less fortunate, the holidays are dominated by simply feeding the family and the struggle of wanting to provide a nice Christmas, but not having the money or resources to do so.

Many of these people have fallen on hard times and are merely doing the best they can with what they have to work with.

Throughout the holiday season, Courier readers will learn about many ways to help the ones who need it most right here in the Arkansas River Valley.

Today, we want to encourage you to adopt a family through the Christmas Wish program at Main Street Mission and to sponsor angels through the Salvation Army's Angel Tree.

Whether you are done with your Christmas shopping or not, why don't you add a name or names to the list to make Christmas a little better for someone who doesn't have as much to look forward to as you?

Christmas Wish

Anyone wishing to adopt a family through Main Street Mission's Christmas Wish may call 264-4347. The letters are available on the Web site www.mainstreetmission.org. For more information about Christmas Wish, call 890-9068. With your help, the mission helped about 1,500 children last year. The first Christmas Wish letters for this year were published in Tuesday's Courier. More will be published in future editions.

Angel Tree

The Salvation Army's Angel Tree is another avenue to increase the number of smiling children on Christmas morning. If you want to provide gifts to an angel or angels, call the Salvation Army at 968-5358 or pick up an Angel at the Salvation Army, Millard Henry Clinic on West Main, Simmons First Bank on North Arkansas Avenue or Cogswell Motors on East Main Street.

There is also an opportunity to help seniors by picking up a Silver Hair form from the Army. Silver Hairs are residents older than 62 who have special needs.

If your organization needs a little endorsement for holiday giving, call Courier Editor Scott Perkins at 968-5252 or e-mail him at editor@couriernews.com.

We can all do a little to make the holidays happy for our community as a whole.